Friday, February 27, 2009

This week I chose the short Story "The Invisibles" by Hugh Sheehy.This short story started off during the end of Cynthia’s summer. Her mother had taken her to the zoo one afternoon and showed her what kinds of people were invisible. Which she defines invisible as unnoticeable, and unmemorable. She went on telling Cynthia that she was invisible just like her mother. Then one August day her mother disappeared without a sign or trace. No one even looked for her except Cynthia. After a while has past Cynthia goes to a skating rink with a couple of friend where she notices a maroon van. At the end of the night of skating with her friends the go there separate ways to go home. Her two friends turn up missing just like her mother. Cynthia tried to convince to police that it was this guy in the maroon van and she even claims she saw him at the skating rink but when the police arrive there is no one fitting her description or even a van around. They treat it like it is all in her head. At the end of the story a year later the police arrested the Lake Erie killer who had a van similar to Cynthia’s description and they were going though several skeleton to find out who they were to match them up with missing persons.

The character development in “Eleven on Top” was more up beat and more realistic and easier to follow along than the “Invisibles.” Then again it has to be in a short story because time does now allow a long character development. In Eleven on Top you were able to get a sense for who Stephanie by her relationships with her family and friends and her jobs. In the Invisibles it was jumping around it seamed like a lot of information was left out and you had to read between the lines. You really never found out why her mother disappeared or if it was all really in her head.

The plots are actually somewhat similar; they both had serial killers killing people at random.I think the length of “Invisibles” truly fit the meaning of story short. I thought the beginning was great and got the suspense up to keep me reading but it went down hill fast and things started getting less of a mystery and more horrid. Then like I stated earlier at the end it really didn’t wrap up what happened to the girl’s missing mother.

Do you attribute any differences between the short stories based on the gender of the author? If so, explain what differences you observed.I think the author did a great job demonstrating how a young girl’s emotions when she feels invisible. I know many young girls experience it in middle school or high school depending on if they are popular or not. He also did a good job demonstrating how the police tried working with her and walking her through the process of trying to solve what happened to her mother. On the other hand, the author of Eleven on Top did a wonderful job writing a chick lit novel. I was really able to relate and understand this novel. It was totally different reading than the other mystery novels.

Review each short story. What did you like or dislike and why? Did the mystery in the short story work for you, i.e., were you challenged, surprised, satisfied or unsatisfied by what happened in the end.This mystery did not work for me because I don’t particularly like the whole serial killer theme. I know in other short stories some of them jumped around a lot and you never really got the whole picture all the time. But this one I couldn’t figure it out until after I read it and my husband read it then we had discussion about it and I was able to see someone else views. I just couldn’t get it like I did “Eleven on Top”. I really enjoyed reading this week’s novel and now that I know what Chick Lit is I will probably read another of that type of mystery novel.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

This week I chose the short Story "A Different Road" by Elizabeth Strout.

This short story started off discussing how an elder couple named Kitteridges had changed so much. It then started off by explain how each Henry and Olive were before the horrible experience. Through out the short story it kind of jumped back and forth from the present to the past so you could tie them together and follow along to figure it out as you went. At the beginning Olive sounded like the old lady next door that just judged everyone and the way they raised their kids compared to her own. She seemed bitter and ungrateful. Before the horrible event, Henry was described as the happy go lucky type. He was always helpful if you ever needed anything. One night the Kitteridges went to dinner with their friends the Newton’s. On their way home Olive had to use the restroom. She begged Henry to stop at the hospital so she could use the restroom. While in the hospital the nurse insisted she get checked out because they had a lady the night before die from a reaction to eating crabmeat and that is what Olive had at the restaurant.

Henry waited for her in the car until the game that he was listening to on the radio had ended then he went in the hospital to check on her. When he went in there were two men in ski masks trying to steel drugs so they put Henry in the bathroom with the Doctor and Nurse and taped their arms behind their backs. While Olive who was only wearing the paper hospital garment was waiting for the Doctor to come back to examine her heard foot steps approaching finally saw the men in the ski mask. They walked her to the bathroom where the others were and told her if anyone talk they get there head blown off. During this time Henry and Olive fight about Henry mother, their son Christopher and say things that you only really say out loud when in a crisis.

After the crisis Henry had time to reflect on the situation and it really bothered him with everything that was said at the hospital between him and Olive. He finally realized that the lady that judged their friends daughter as trouble for cheating on her husband had feelings for one of the men in ski masks at the hospital.

Differences in character, plots, settings and themes: Between the two stories I read this week they were both wrote by female authors and I feel had the same amount of passion or feeling behind the story. Consider how the length of short story vs. novel impacts the story: I thought both stories this week really gave me enough information for me to follow the story line and solve the mystery or know what was happening next. Unlike in past weeks some of the short stories really just jumped around or didn’t really tell you what was next. I really enjoyed both stories this week.

Which did you prefer in a given week and why? What did you like or dislike and why?: I can’t chose one story. I like them both this week because I was able to follow along and felt like I got enough information to solve the mysteries or crimes at the same time the author did. Maybe this is because both my stories were written by women. I did find the Guardian Angel a little more interesting just because every other book has had the main character a man and I think the author did a good job showing that women can do just as good of a job at a man’s job as a man could.

Differences between the short stories based on the gender of the author: The reason I chose it was because it was written by a woman and wanted to compare the two women authors this week. I don’t believe gender played a role for my and the stories I read this week because they were both women.

Did the mystery in the short story work for you? – It was ok, once you figured out what the author was doing by jumping from present to past I was able to enjoy it more. But I really enjoy the Guardian Angel more this week. I really think V.I. did a good job showing how a woman could do a man’s job.

Satisfied or unsatisfied by what happened in the end – I was satisfied by the ending of my short story because you could figure it out by what was all previously said in the reading. I have found the different types of writing by the gender interesting. I really didn’t think it could be that big of a difference until you read a couple wrote by female authors and by male authors. The last three will be tough to pick because I have been trying to pick some short stories that I have read about on other blog’s now they are all picked over.

This short story started off with Milky’s mother Patty sitting at her table crying because she hadn’t seen or heard from her son that lived with her for two day’s. When he finally showed up he created this story to ease his mother’s worries of him turning out like his brother. At that time the readers really don’t know much about his brother or what she didn’t want him to turn out like. The story then skipped and went back in time and gave the readers a little background on Patty’s past. Then it jumped back to the present and went into how Patty’s husband and son Jimmy died. Then the story jumped to Patty walking with a neighbor lady by the lake and she told her friend that her son Milky was working on a special project with the police department and that he was cleaning up his life. Then that friend she had told spread the word to her son who know or worked with Milky in some illegal work not sure what it was because all the facts were not given. It was almost like you needed to read between the lines to figure out what was going on. That friend didn’t like what he heard from his mother about Milky and so he and his other friends started watching Milky to see if he really was working undercover or something. Then one day a couple of police men stopped by because Milky was in trouble with the police again and Patty began bragging that Milky was going to be working so hard to help them with his special project because he wanted to make his mother proud. They didn’t know what she was talking about and thought they would teach Milky a lesson about lying to his mother. Then the story skips to Milky’s funeral. It says his death was ruled a suicide like his father, but you really don’t know because it doesn’t give you any of those details.

Differences in character, plots, settings and themes: I preferred Black Betty VS. "One Good One" because there was a mystery plot in Black Betty that you could follow. The characters were well developed and I felt like I could actually picture them and follow the story line. Each action in the story was well detailed and it felt as if I was watching a movie. Black Betty made me feel like I was learning more about the views of another race. I enjoyed the part where he flashbacked to his younger years in Houston when he thought Betty was the most beautiful thing and her kiss made him fall over. It was a sweet memory that drove him to want to reconnect with her. I also liked the fact that a white private eye went to Easy for help in trying to find someone. To me it was a step for the two different races to work together. The short story was to jumpy and didn’t give me any details to keep me interested in the story. I also felt that by the end of the story I really didn’t know what had happened. I had so many unanswered questions.

Consider how the length of short story vs. novel impacts the story: I do not believe the length of the short story VS. the length of the novel had any impact on the stories. "The One Good One" is not a real mystery and Black Betty was. I do believe the race differences may have had an impact on the story line. The short story was about a thug protecting his mother from the truth.

Which did you prefer in a given week and why? What did you like or dislike and why?: I can’t say I would be able to pick one over the other. I like piece of each of them. I like the story line of “Given Her History” just wish it went into more detail and didn’t just leave me hanging. I really didn’t care for the “Maltese Falcon” story line but liked the way the novel gave you what you need to keep reading until the end of the book. Then you felt like you knew what the book was about.

Differences between the short stories based on the gender of the author: The reason I chose it was because it was written by a man and wanted to compare the two male authors this week. I don’t believe gender played a role for my and the stories I read this week because they were both male. I do feel like the race played a huge impact. So far the novels wrote by a white male I didn’t prefer because they kept information from the readers and jumped around. As for the African American author, I felt he made the story more appealing to me by giving me the information to keep me reading.

Did the mystery in the short story work for you? – I did not care for the short story because it seemed to jump around and was hard to follow. The story was about a thug protecting his mother, basically lying to her, and at the end a surprise twist that I felt left me hanging.

Satisfied or unsatisfied by what happened in the end – I was unsatisfied by the ending of my short story because you never really found out what happened. It left so many unanswered questions in my head and I felt like I missed something when I finished reading it.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

I hope I am doing this correctly. At the end of reading this short story, I was wanting to know more. I really like story line that leave you in suspense but at the end I want to know the ending. I thought the author did a good job with the beginning taking you through the story through April-May's eyes.

This story was about this little girl April-May waking up one night in a ditch across from her house that was on fire and the only other family member that she knew that made it out was her brother Billy and his dog Jake. Her Father, Mother and brother Jake were burned and died in the fire. Also it sounded like the type of family life before the fire wasn't the best environment for a child. She mentioned her house not having an inside bathroom, and not being the cleanest. It also sounded like dad abused mom, and instead of doing anything mom just put up with it. The towns people also knew that Billy had set things on fire before and they suspected him on setting his family on fire.

I know from having kids that what kids hear and see is what they think is normal. So when April-May saw the abuse and the lack of cleaniness she thought is was ok. But when she went to live with another family after the fire she was caught of guard when she got to take a warm bath indoors, and get nice clothes that werent her brothers hand me downs.

By the end of this short story April-May went to live with this lady called Vivian in town. She new that if she just showed April-May alittle attention she could have a big impact on this little girls life and save her from turning out like her older brother. Finally two years after the fire when April-May and her dog Jake finally enjoyed being with Vivian her brother Billy showed up and was expecting April-May to go with him to be a family again. At that time Vivian mentioned she new he had set her pet rabbits on fire and she wasn't going to let him have April-May. That is when April-May knew she didn't want to be with him and that she enjoyed where she was.

Differences in character, plots, settings and themes – The short story “Given Her History” that I chose this week and the novel “Maltese Falcon” we read were different to me in many ways. First of all Sam was a detective solving murders and you the reader only got pieces of info as you went like in the game clue. In my short story “Given Her History” there really was no solving the mystery because April-May mentioned in the beginning about suspecting her brother to have set the fire. Secondly in the “Maltese Falcon” you didn’t know the ending until the end but in “Giving Her History” you knew the ending up front and went back in time to relive it.

Consider how the length of short story vs. novel impacts the story – After reading both I felt like you got more details and answers from the novel. Where at the end of the short story I felt there should have been more story. It was as if it just stopped with no explanation.

Which did you prefer in a given week and why? What did you like or dislike and why? – I can’t say I would be able to pick one over the other. I like piece of each of them. I like the story line of “Given Her History” just wish it went into more detail and didn’t just leave me hanging. I really didn’t care for the “Maltese Falcon” story line but liked the way the novel gave you what you need to keep reading until the end of the book. Then you felt like you knew what the book was about.

Differences between the short stories based on the gender of the author – In my opinion there were many differences between the author of my short story and this week’s novel. My short story was wrote by a woman and I feel she held back and didn’t make it as detective as the “Maltese Falcon” was which was by a man. I am not saying that women authors are not as good as males but I feel women put more emotions in it. “Given Her History” to me was more of a chick flick story.

Did the mystery in the short story work for you? – It wasn’t much of a mystery as it was suspense of what was coming next. I really liked it just wish there was more. It was one of those that you couldn’t put down.

Satisfied or unsatisfied by what happened in the end – I was satisfied with the ending because I got a good feeling that April-May finally had a chance to change her life and make something of her life. While reading I was sad that people actually treat their kids like that.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

This is my blog for American Detective Fiction for Baker U. I have been exploring with blogger for the first time and so bear with me if I am not set up correct. So if you have some advise on how I can fix my site so I can better use it thanks! Also let me know how I can use this to keep in contact with my family that all live far away.